Chapter 55

“Narada said, ‘The heroic king Paurava also, O Srinjaya, we hear, fell aprey to death. That king gave away a thousand times thousand horses thatwere all white in hue. At the Horse-sacrifice performed by that royalsage, countless number of learned Brahmanas versed in the principles ofSiksha[94] and Akshara come from diverse realms. These Brahmanas,purified by the Vedas, by knowledge, and by vows, and liberal and ofagreeable countenances, having obtained from the king costly gifts, suchas, robes and houses and excellent beds and carpets and vehicles anddraft-cattle, were always delighted by actors and dancers and singers,thoroughly competent and well-versed (in their respective art), engagedin spot and ever-striving for their diversion. At each of his Sacrificesin due time he gave away as sacrificial presents ten thousand elephantsof golden splendour, with the temporal juice trickling down their bodies,and cars made of gold with standards and banners. He also gave away, assacrificial presents, a thousand times thousand maidens decked withornaments of gold, and cars and steeds and elephants for mounting, andhouses and fields, and hundreds of kine, by hundreds of thousand, andthousands of cowherds decked with gold. They that are acquainted with thehistory of the past, sing this song, viz., that in that sacrifice, kingPaurava gave away kine with calves, having golden horns and silver hoofsand brass milkpots, and female slaves and male slaves and asses andcamels, and sheep, countless in number, and diverse kinds of gems anddiverse hill-like mounds of food. That sacrificing king of the Angassuccessively performed, in the order of their merit, and according towhat was competent for his own class, many auspicious sacrifices capableof yielding every object of desire. When such a king, O Srinjaya, diedwho was superior to thee as regards the four cardinal virtues and who,superior to thee was, therefore, much more superior to thy son, thoushouldst not, saying ‘Oh, Swaitya, Oh, Swaitya,’ grieve for thy son whoperformed no sacrifice and made no sacrificial present.'”